{"id":276260,"date":"2015-02-26T05:10:10","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T18:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/pro-education\/10-must-features-wedding-website-2015\/"},"modified":"2015-02-26T05:10:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T18:10:10","slug":"10-must-features-wedding-website-2015","status":"publish","type":"au-pro-education","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/pro-education\/10-must-features-wedding-website-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"10 must-have features on your business website in 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10<\/p>\n

Digital marketing is dynamic and unpredictable. What worked even\u00a0a\u00a0year ago on\u00a0your website may not be the most effective method for attracting and converting visitors\u00a0in today’s online\u00a0environment.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your marketing budget, here are 10 cost-effective, must-have features for your wedding website, according to Easy Weddings’ web designers who have created hundreds of business websites and online shops.<\/p>\n

1. Optimised Contact Us forms<\/h2>\n

Displaying a phone number and an email address is no longer enough for brides who aren’t ready to pick up the phone\u00a0– a\u00a0Contact Us form is essential. If your\u00a0form\u00a0only has\u00a0two fields you’re missing out on valuable information needed to provide brides\u00a0with the most comprehensive quote possible.<\/p>\n

In the time it takes you\u00a0to play information ping-pong and\u00a0extract additional information, they’re likely\u00a0moved onto another supplier.\u00a0A wedding business Contact Us form<\/a> should\u00a0include: Name<\/em>, Phone Number,<\/em>\u00a0Email<\/em>, Wedding date<\/em>, Wedding location<\/em>, How did you find us? and<\/em>\u00a0Your\u00a0enquiry<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>With these details you can call prospects\u00a0and provide an informed quote,\u00a0significantly increasing your chances of securing a sale or booking.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0SEO<\/h2>\n

One of the most effective ways to increase your site’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is to regularly add keyword-rich content to your blog. It doesn’t have to be 1500-word articles\u00a0every other day; a variety of\u00a0content can\u00a0encourage search engines to crawl your site and attract backlinks – if you’re promoting posts effectively.<\/p>\n

Images and videos are less time-intensive to share, and if tagged appropriately, search engines will be able to index and present them in search results for\u00a0people seeking\u00a0that\u00a0information.<\/p>\n

3. Mobile responsive<\/h2>\n

Today, up to 40% of website traffic is likely to be from a mobile device. According to our statistics, that figure is even higher among Easy Weddings’ brides.<\/p>\n

As more sites are adopting mobile-friendly designs, consumers are becoming less tolerant of non-responsive websites that force them to scroll endlessly to find content and zoom in to complete forms or\u00a0select\u00a0buttons.<\/p>\n

Having a responsive site with adaptive screen widths and scalable images will reduce the bounce rate (people leaving your site before taking a look around) and increase the time people spend perusing your products or reading about your services.<\/p>\n

4. Social media icons<\/h2>\n

Everybody knows what social media icons look like and that’s what their eyes are\u00a0scanning for when they land on\u00a0your site.<\/p>\n

Don’t hide your social media accounts\u00a0down the bottom of your page in the footer as a hyperlinked\u00a0word that\u00a0fades into a sea of links. People have grown accustomed to clicking on a form of the lower case ‘f’ which they know will\u00a0take them to a Facebook Page, so if that’s what they’re looking for, put it on every page and make it easy to find it!<\/p>\n

5. Testimonials<\/h2>\n

Reviews <\/a>from\u00a0real-life brides who have\u00a0gone\u00a0before are\u00a0powerful selling tools.\u00a0People can be\u00a0overwhelmed by choice with\u00a0wedding vendors, so when confronted with the similar services at comparable\u00a0prices, consumers are more likely to\u00a0enquire on\u00a0the\u00a0site with testimonials and\u00a0pictures<\/a> of happy brides who’ve used\u00a0the service\u00a0before.<\/p>\n

And, of course, don’t forget to get them to review your service on Easy Weddings<\/a> where your ratings will be displayed on your profile.You can also call your Account Manager and have them help you add a Reviews widget onto your website<\/a>, so that all your Easy Weddings reviews are visible on any page of your site that you wish them to appear on.<\/p>\n

Customers They’ll even go into the running to win an iPad!<\/p>\n

Don’t be afraid to ask customers for reviews and testimonials.\u00a0You can also use thank you notes posted\u00a0on\u00a0social media. Send the client a quick message and confirm\u00a0they’re OK with you using their testimonial and add it to your website.<\/p>\n

Regularly adding\/updating testimonials\u00a0will also boost your SEO.<\/p>\n

6. Pin It buttons for business<\/h2>\n

There is not a wedding business around that\u00a0doesn’t have a single photo on their website. If you don’t, then you’re\u00a0doing it wrong and your business is, no doubt, suffering.<\/p>\n

From wedding photographers and formal wear hire to celebrants and invitations; every website needs professional images and should consider adding a\u00a0Pin It button<\/a> to their pages to encourage visitors to save these\u00a0pics onto their wedding ‘Pinspiration’\u00a0boards. It’s great for SEO\u00a0and\u00a0increases the chances of other brides\u00a0finding your site.<\/p>\n

\"Pinterest<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Meet the team<\/h2>\n

You can’t get much more personal than a wedding. It’s a bride’s big day to have everything her\u00a0way and be supported by vendors\u00a0who will\u00a0ensure it goes\u00a0exactly to plan.<\/p>\n

This involves having a team of people you can trust. If you’re a photographer, celebrant or makeup artist, YOU are the product!\u00a0Add team profiles to your website to show brides the smiling faces they’ll be dealing with and include short bios detailing your experience and passion for your work. Team profiles\u00a0make you appear accessible and approachable, and clients need to know they can reach out to real people\u00a0when they need you most.<\/p>\n

8. Calls to action<\/h2>\n

You might have a website with lots of pretty pictures, but unless people know exactly what to do when they arrive on your site, they’ll leave without taking action. This action can\u00a0be booking an appointment, making an enquiry, purchasing a product, signing up for a newsletter or following on\u00a0social media. Decide what’s most important on each\u00a0page and make it crystal clear what visitors\u00a0need to do with strong calls to actions in headings, buttons and closing paragraph text that pave the way to conversion.<\/p>\n

9. FAQs<\/h2>\n

Adding a Frequently Asked Questions page to your website can considerably reduce time spent replying to enquiries. It will also equip brides with more information to bring them closer to conversion at the point of enquiry. If they can find out how far in advance they need to book, what the deposit is, the minimum number of people for booking, what’s covered by your insurance, additional fees for public holidays and the refund policy all before picking up the phone, they will be closer to the point of conversion or appointment by the time they pick up the phone and call – all you need to do then is work your charm!<\/p>\n

10. Search box<\/h2>\n

Visitors to your website are as pressed for time as you are, so be sure to include a search box for those wanting to avoid trawling through every page on your site to find what they’re after.<\/p>\n

Even websites with highly intuitive navigation and organised pages can benefit from adding a search box that helps visitors\u00a0find what they’re looking for in the shortest time possible. And while\u00a0we hate to point out the\u00a0obvious, don’t make people\u00a0search\u00a0for the search box. Put it somewhere obvious on the landing page above the fold where visitors eyes will land – generally the top right of the page.<\/p>\n

Gal Opatovsky, our head web designer, believes if your site is more than three years old,\u00a0it’s probably time for a polish and shine. Check out the\u00a0<\/span>Easy Weddings website design portfolio\u00a0<\/a>to see some of Gal’s finest\u00a0sites\u00a0and\u00a0call our Customer Care team on 1800 155 122 to enquire about our\u00a0website design packages, including mobile-friendly design, two years\u2019 domain registration and 12 months\u2019 Australian-based hosting.<\/p>\n

Not sure where to start improving your wedding website? Leave the\u00a0URL in the comments and our design team will be in touch with some ideas!<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":268860,"template":"","au_pro_edu_tags":[],"class_list":["post-276260","au-pro-education","type-au-pro-education","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_pro_edu_categories-marketing-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education\/276260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-pro-education"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_pro_edu_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_pro_edu_tags?post=276260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}